Seven Tips for Selling
More in a Tough Economy

By John Chapin

You hear it
everywhere you go: "Sales are down because of the economy. My
customers simply aren't buying as much." There are some people out
there saying the economy doesn't matter, it's what's going on in
your own head that matters. While it’s true that what goes on in
your brain is always more important than outside circumstances, the
economy is still what’s affecting many businesses. If yours is one
of them, put the following seven ideas into practice and you'll find
that the affect on you will be minimal, and in fact, you may notice
no change or even a positive one.

Tip 1 - Don't
let the economy be your excuse: After a tough
day or some difficult sales calls, it’s easy to use the economy as
an excuse. If you do, people will hear it in your voice and you’ll
sell less. This attitude also leads to working less. In a down
economy, when salespeople should be increasing their calls and
activity level, the average salesperson cuts calls by 37%. The
answer? Use the down economy as a warning and motivation to work
harder and smarter, not as an excuse to back off. If you back off,
business will go down, if you work harder and smarter, business will
improve. As the saying goes "When the going gets tough, the tough
get going.

Tip 2 - Get
better at selling: When there are
fewer sales opportunities and prospects, you must do better with the
ones you have. The way to do this is to get better at selling. Read
books, listen to tapes and CDs, watch DVDs, become a sponge and
absorb everything you can get your hands on. Using this strategy has
helped many salespeople improve to the point where they actually
sold more in a so-called down economy than they sold when times were
good. Now is the time to improve your skills; constant and
consistent learning is the best way to grow your sales.

Tip 3 - Keep a
good attitude: Your attitude is
your most important sales tool in your arsenal; you have to keep it
sharp. Now is not the time to read the front page of every newspaper
and watch every newscast. Our brains are like computers “Garbage in,
garbage out.” What you should be doing is putting as many good ideas
as possible into your brain. Pick up anything that is inspirational,
motivational, positive, and upbeat and use it to keep a good
attitude and stay focused. Be positive and persistent. In addition
to putting good ideas into your brain, surround yourself with
positive people and stay away from negative people.

Tip 4 - Prepare
for the price objection and build value: People are
focused on price more than ever these days. Prospects and customers
will do everything they can to commoditize vendors and simply go
with the lowest price. Thus it is very important that you build
value. What are your primary benefits? How are you, your company,
and your product better than the competition? Are you local; is your
long-term cost less, can you respond to service calls faster? You
need to accentuate your primary benefits, make them as powerful as
possible, and provide proof in ROI Models, testimonials, and the
like. Finally, come up with some solid responses to the price
objection.

Tip 5 - Build
relationships:
The relationship with the salesperson is the number one reason
people give for doing business with a particular company. We've all
seen it happen, you make an overwhelming case for your product
versus the competition and yet, the prospect still buys from your
competitor because they're golf buddies. Relationships are extremely
important, in most cases more than anything else, so you need to
focus on not only staying in touch with and keeping your name in
front of customers and prospects, but also on taking that next step
and building solid relationships.

Tip 6 - Go back
to the basics:
Now is the time to increase the personal touch. Make more
face-to-face visits to customers, send handwritten notes, stop by
occasionally simply to say “hello”, and drop off the proposal in
person instead of mailing or e-mailing it. Your objective is to
touch the customer more often on a more personal level at a time
when your competitors are calling less and being less personal.

Tip 7 –
Remember, you are completely responsible for your success: Five years
from now you and your career will arrive somewhere, the question is:
where? If you decide that something outside of you, such as the
economy, is responsible for your success or failure, you give away
control of your destiny and your ultimate success. The way to change
that is to remember that your success is up to you, you own it, and
you control it. Provided you have solid goals and strong enough
reasons why you need to get there, you will arrive where you decide
to arrive, regardless of the economy, or anything else for that
matter. Reminding yourself that you are 100% responsible for your
success keeps your success under your control and within reach.

If you put the
above tips to work, you will see an improvement in business, perhaps
a significant one. Many people have found that as a result of the
above tips they are doing more business now than they were when the
economy was good. What are you capable of if you really set your
mind to it and get to work? The sky is the limit, so stay positive,
work hard, work smart, and dream big!